A hidden camera was found in a women's bathroom on a warship, and the US Navy is looking for answers
- A female Marine discovered a camera in the women's bathroom on the USS Arlington, an amphibious transport dock, NBC reported Friday.
- NCIS has been investigating the situation since March, when the device was first discovered.
- The Navy, like other military service branches, has repeatedly struggled with issues of sexual harassment, which continues to be a pervasive problem.
Naval investigators are looking for answers after a female Marine discovered a camera in the women's bathroom on a deployed US warship, NBC reported, citing three military officials.
The woman discovered the device aboard the USS Arlington, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock currently in port in Greece, back in March.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) has been investigating the incident since that time, working to determine who placed the device and whether or not it had recorded anything.
"The command has taken, and will continue to take, all necessary actions to ensure the safety and privacy of the victim," Sixth Fleet spokesperson Cmdr. Kyle Raines told NBC.
"The Navy/Marine Corps team takes all reports of sexual harassment seriously, and are committed to thoroughly investigating these allegations and providing resources and care to victims of sexual harassment."
This is certainly not the first time the Navy has struggled with men spying on women aboard ship.
For ten months on the USS Wyoming, an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, a group of sailors filmed at least a dozen women serving aboard the Navy boat as they undressed and showered. The videos were then distributed among other sailors.
Using cellphones and an iPod touch, sailors went into frame bays and unmanned spaces, areas that "provided the perpetrators a limited viewing area of the bathrooms/heads via piping penetration air gaps in the bulkheads," Navy Times reported, citing investigation material.
The incident, characterized as a "breach of trust," was said to be particularly shocking due to the close bond between submariners.
In a Rand Corp. report requested by the Pentagon and released last fall, the Navy was unidentified as the service having the greatest risk of sexual harassment. The Navy was the only service with installations with more than a 15 percent risk of sexual assault, Stars and Stripes reported at the time.
Across the military, the various services have been actively striving to address the serious and pervasive issue that is sexual harassment.